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In 2005, the Supreme People's Court announced its intent to "[take] back authority for death penalty approval" over concerns about “sentencing quality”,[1] and the National People's Congress officially changed the Organic Law on the People's Courts requiring all death sentences to be approved by the Supreme People's Court on 31 October 2006.[2] It has been reported that since the new review process, the court has rejected 15 percent of the death sentences decided by lower courts.[3]